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Thank goodness, Call of Duty 4 is not based on World War II campaigns anymore.
I guess there are times when we have enough of World War II games out there (First Person Shooter, Strategy, you name it). Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of World War II games, but seeing Operation Overlord (D-Day, when the Normandy beach was stormed by the Allied forces) over and over on different games had turned me off a bit.
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Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare is, as the title says, a first person shooter game in a modern world. You will see weapons, tanks, helicopters and other war killing machines and weaponry from today’s era. I honestly didn’t expect much from Call of Duty 4, as I already got bored of the Call of Duty “franchise”. After a lot of recommendations from people to play Call of Duty 4, I decided to try it out and was stunned.
Single Player and Gameplay
After completing the tutorial mission (involves some shootings and knifing a watermelon), the first mission caught my eye and took my breath away.
The graphic is stunningly beautiful (I like to sacrifice some of my frame rates to make sure that I see the greatest that the game designers can offer) and I especially love how your squadmates move and do stuffs like a real special forces unit; stacking up before opening a door, breaching doors when necessary, and taking covers during firefights (enemies are taking cover too).
When the enemies take cover, they really mean it. Most of the time you either have to flank them, or simply wait until they “peep” behind their cover so that you can shoot them down. The enemies will also spray their gun aimlessly while still behind their covers, smart!
The missions are varied: assaulting a cargo ship in the middle of the night during a storm, protecting your friends with a sniper rifle, giving a fire support from an airship above the ground, and many others that I won’t spoil it here. These kind of missions give a variety to the game, so you don’t simply being given a rifle and then try to mow down the enemies on each level/map. The variety of the mission will make you shout “More, more!”.
Alas, “More” is what you will shout at the end of the single player campaign. Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare’s single player campaign is short, indeed. If you are really into it, you can probably finish this game during the weekend. Although more is good, sometimes less is better. At the end of the game, I had this feeling of satisfaction that I haven’t experienced for a while from a game. If only I have a much more powerful card than a 7600GT, then I’ll probably enjoy this game more.
Next: Multiplayer.
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With less than 6 hours of single play gaming, which really is just the tutorial for the multiplayer part, (which is 90% of the game), this game should be not allowed to be marketed as a single/multiplayer game, but as an online game. It’s all very well people like you who get the game free or enjoy multiplayer to say less is sometimes more, implying anything with over 20 hours of gameplay somehow means less fun, but for those of us with limited funds that are expected to fork out $50-60 for these games it is just a rip-off! How many more casual gamers have bought this and felt truly ripped off – and how is this helping a struggling PC games market? Every review I have read has either not mentioned the sub 6 hour single player game or has said the same as you, that somehow 6 hours of great gameplay is better than 20 hours of great gameplay! I exclusively buy RPG’s now, like Oblivion, The Witcher STALKER and Neverwinter Nights 2, because they give me excellent value for money with their GREAT 80 plus hours of gaming. This of course means I buy many fewer PC games, as most PC games are shooters, like COD4. If PC games are going to give sub 6 hours of single play fun for out hard earned money, then PC gaming will wither and die. And reviewers like you, out of touch with PC gamers, will be in the forefront of causing it!
I agree with you, but before you buy a game, you should have checked some reviews on the web first (which seems that you have?).
All reviews from the “big gaming daddy sites” that I’ve read had mentioned about the short hours of single player gameplay.
IGN: “The overall story is standard action movie fare, but the relationships built over the short five hours of play are surprisingly strong.”
Gamespot: “It’s a shame that the single-player is so brief, but you should only skip out on Call of Duty 4 if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t appreciate great first-person shooter multiplayer”
I honestly miss those old times where Space Simulation and Adventure dominates the market, whereas everything is about FPS (First Person Shooter) now
When you think how many reviews of this is out there your example are just one grain of sand in a desert. But of all those reviews where has anyone said this trend is disgusting?! What we get now in PC game reviews is many instances of ‘with 12 hours of gameplay this game is about average for shooters today….’ Never have I read ‘What the hell is going on with less and less hours of gameplay in PC games?!’ on any major PC gaming site or review. As each game produced less hours all you got was ’shame’ along with a 90% review (like with COD4). This all started with the acceptance of the 5 hour gameplay in HL2 episode one. From that we have had COD4, Fahrenheit, Dreamfall, Bioshock and others that were all sold at full price with 15 hours or less of gameplay.
The fawning of this issue and others on gaming websites over the years has led us to where we are now with PC gaming. Sales down 50% in 5 years. Last year having the fewest number of PC game releases. PC gaming is dying, and yet we see huge price rises in games by virtue of less gaming hours and an ever demanding appetite from game publisher to ‘push the hardware’ (Crysis anyone?!) forcing PC gamers to spend 5 times more on hardware over a 5 year period that a console is supported. It’s no wonder that whereas with the original XBox, the console sold 8 copies of a game for 1 on the PC where the game came out on both formats, to today, where a game like Bioshock sold 16 copies on the 360 for each PC copy sold. Given the XBox and 360 have sold more or less similar numbers over a similar time period, this is roughly a 50% decline in PC game sales in a less than 5 year period. other numbers support this. And meanwhile all we get is reviews of COD4 that glosses over the 6 hours, no debates, no tirades, no ‘where’s the beef’. Just ‘although on 6 hours, it’s a great 6 hours…’ Yes, that really helps a gaming format that is on it’s knees. I have been playing PC games for 20 years. I think we are in the last 2 years of it continuing in any meaningful way. It’s been the death of a 1,000 cuts. 6 hour gameplay full price games like COD4 could turn out to the the last cut….
Wow. I am frankly stunned that the comments about COD4. How can you possibly complain about the single player campaign on this game, being that it was, IMO, the best 6 hours in FPS history. Amazing.
Also, anyone who thinks PC gaming is “dying” needs to re-evaluate. You might have some issues with the platform, I’m sure everyone can complain about something. But seriously, you’re kidding yourself. The PC drives the industry, gaming and technology both.
I did want to say that I agree with your comments about WW2, Michael. I definitely think the WW2 frame has been overdone, and I’m ready for some new storylines too.
I’ve blogged about all 3 topics myself recently as well. COD4, WW2, and PC vs. Console. Check it out if you’re interested.
This game is AMAZING!!! The support (patch releases) is fanatic as well, which is great! I’m a PC user of it myself.
Got this game and love it. Only play online though. Couldn’t be bothered with single player.
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I have been wanting to play this game for since it’s orginal release! Ah I’m addicted to Halo =(
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my favorite game ever… i like reality games..
Given that NPD has just said PC software sales were down 23% and at the same time, on STEAM, “King Arthur the Roleplaying Wargame” (ever heard of it?) was higher in their chart than Borderlands or Empire Total War or any of the other ‘major titles’, it’s fair to say that games like COD4 are the dying breathes of the mainstream PC gaming market.
Meanwhile, with DOSBox announcing it’s 5 millionth download, and the success of companies like GOG.com, it’s not difficult to see that those PC gamers not moving to console are going to retro. Anything but the modern shallow, dumbed down ‘multiformat’ based PC games of today.
No matter what they say, PC gaming still rocks! Just try shooting with a controller compared to a nice gaming mouse with a keyboard combo!
I’m going to buy the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 when it’s out for PC!
Don’t you mean IF Battlefield: Bad Company 2 comes out on PC?!
It was already confirmed that it’s coming to PC and you can even start pre-ordering
I’m waiting for it to come to Steam (they are working on it at the moment). So hopefully I can join in the beta end of next week!